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Author: Nolan Hicks

AUSTIN — After vetoing funding for the anti-corruption unit of the Travis County District Attorney’s office, emissaries of Texas Gov. Rick Perry engaged in negotiations that would have seen the funding restored, provided District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg resigned her position, several sources told the San Antonio Express-News. …

Two members of the Texas House’s select committee investigating the activities of University of Texas regent Wallace Hall — Rep. Charles Perry and co-chair Rep. Dan Flynn — took campaign contributions from two major critics of UT-Austin president Bill Powers: Jeff Sandefer and Michael Quinn Sullivan’s political action committee, Empower Texans PAC. …

After days of speculation and leaks, The Texas House of Representatives has made the draft report its committee received examining the behavior of UT System Regent Wallace Hall on its website. Its release comes five days after it was made available to members of the Select House Committee on Transparency in State Government Operations. …

News reports and state officials have commonly stated that expanding the Medicaid program in this fashion would cost the state about $15 billion over 10 years. Except, that figure, provided by the state Health and Human Services Commission, is actually an estimated total cost for all aspects of the Affordable Care Act, many of which the state is going to have to pay for even though state leaders have remained steadfastly opposed to almost all aspects of the law. …

Two key members of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s campaign for reelection have resigned because of a dispute about campaign strategy, one of them told the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle on …

When Dan Patrick spoke about immigration in January at a forum for business groups, he chose to focus on violent crime. When asked where he got the statistics from, Patrick campaign spokesman Logan Spence referred the Express-News to a 2013 report produced by the Department of Public Safety, entitled “Texas Public Safety Threat Overview 2013”. The statistics, as published by the Texas Department of Public Safety don’t actually say that. …

State Sen. Dan Patrick is no stranger to over-the-top statements about immigrants and immigration. He’s repeatedly claimed there is a massive influx of undocumented immigrants across the U.S./Mexico border into Texas. However, the data show otherwise. …

For the first couple of months this year, it seemed like the Wendy Davis campaign for governor was being run by The Gang that Couldn’t Shoot Straight. They were doing little beyond providing Republicans ammunition and angering the Capitol press corps. Now the campaign’s continuing attacks on Greg Abbott over equal pay for women seem to be making inroads and the complaints about her campaign have begun to diminish. …

Some of the Texas GOP’s biggest supporters are also major contributors to the anti-abortion group that aired thousands of dollars in negative advertising against Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Wendy Davis just days before the March primary. …